PREVIOUS WORK WITH INSECT PARASITES. eg 
reported that the cottony cushion scale was practically no longer a 
factor to be considered in the cultivation of oranges and lemons in 
California. The following season this statement was fully justified, 
and since that time the cottony cushion scale, or white scale, or fluted 
scale, as it is called, has no longer been a factor in California horti- 
culture. Rarely it begins to increase in numbers at some given point, 
but the Australian ladybirds are always kept breeding at the head- 
quarters of the State Board of Horticulture at Sacramento, and such 
outbreaks are speedily reduced. In fact, it has been difficult for the 
State horticultural authorities to keep a sufficient supply of scale 
insect food alive for the continued breeding of the ladybirds. 
The same insect was introduced direct from California into New 
Zealand at a later date, and the same good results were brought about. 
The Icerya is no longer a feature in horticulture in New Zealand. 
Novius 1N PoRTUGAL. 
Still a third striking instance of the value of the Australian ladybird 
was seen later in the case of Portugal. Icerya purchasi was probably 
introduced into that country in the late eighties or early nineties from 
her colonies in the Azores, to which point it was probably introduced 
many years previously from Australia. The insect spread rapidly 
and threatened the complete destruction of the orange and lemon 
groves along the banks of the River Tagus. In September, 1896, 
persons in Portugal applied to the senior author for advice as to the 
most efficacious means of fighting the scale insect, and a reply was 
made urging them to make an effort to introduce (Vedalia) Novius 
cardinalis and sending information as to the success of the insect in 
California. In October, 1897, the chief of the bureau was able to 
secure, through the kindness of the State Board of Agriculture of 
California, about 60 specimens of the ladybird, which were sent by 
direct mail from Washington packed in moss. But five reached Por- 
tugal alive, but these were so successfully cared for that there was a 
numerous progeny. Another sending was made on the 22d of Novem- 
ber following. These were received on the 19th of December and 
proved successful. Karly in September, 1898, the statement was 
published in Lisbon newspapers that already colonies or stocks of the 
Vedalia had been established on 487 estates, whence naturally many 
others were formed by radiation; gardens and orchards that were 
completely infested and nearly ruined were already entirely clean or 
well on the way toward becoming so. Since that time the pest has 
almost entirely disappeared. The bureau would not have been able 
to assist the Portuguese Government to this admirable result had it 
not been for the enlightened policy of the State Board of Horticulture 
of California in continuing the breeding in confinement of these preda- 
